PERSONALITY DISORDERS IN A GROUP OF PSYCHIATRIC OUTPATIENTS: GENERAL ASPECTS AND CLUSTER B CHARACTERISTICS

##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.sidebar##

Published Dec 4, 2009
Download
pdf
Vol. 87 No. 10 (2009): Issue Oct 2009

##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.main##

Yousri ELKissi
Mouna Ayachi
Selma Ben Nasr
Bechir Ben Hadj Ali

Abstract

Background : Personality disorders are common among patients seeking psychiatric care and often coexist with axis I disorders. Cluster B types are reported as being the most common in those patients. They are often correlated with specific demographic features, higher rates of axis I comorbidity and impaired outcome.
Aim: This study aimed to describe general and clinical features of personality disorders types in a Tunisian outpatient psychiatric unit and to determine characteristics of cluster B personality types, compared to those of cluster A and C.
Methods : This study was held in Sousse psychiatric outpatient unit, from January 2000 to December 2004. 148 cases were retrospectively recruited and assessed according to axis I and axis II DSM-IV criteria.
Results : Personality disorders prevalence was 6%. 85.1% of patients had at least one current axis I disorder, which mainly consisted of depressive disorder (42.3 %). Cluster B types were the most frequent (54.7%). Comorbid addictive and somatoform disorders were more frequent in cluster B. Anxiety disorders were more frequent in cluster C and psychotic disorders were more frequent in cluster A.
Conclusion : Our results show prevalence and clinical profile of personality disorders in a Tunisian clinical population. Cluster B types were the most frequent and seem to have specific comorbid disorders. This support the idea that patients with cluster B personality types need adapted psychiatric care.

Keywords:

Psychiatry , Personality disorders , Cluster B, Comparative study

##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.details##

References

  1. ZIMMERMAN M, ROTHSCHILD L, CHELMINSKI I. The prevalence of DSM-IV personality disorders in psychiatric outpatients. Am J Psychiatry 2005; 162: 1911-18.
  2. TOLLEFSON GD. Personality disorders. Am Fam Physician 1983; 27: 215-23.
  3. CRAMER V, TORGERSEN S, KRINGLEN E. Personality disorders and quality of life. Apopulation study. Compr Psychiatry 2006; 47: 178-84.
  4. MORSE JQ, LYNCH TR. A preliminary investigation of self-reported personality disorders in late life: Prevalence, predictors of depressive severity, and clinical correlates. Aging Ment Health 2004; 8: 307-15.
  5. CASEY P, BIRBECK G, MC DONAGH C et al. Personality disorders, depression and functioning: results from the ODIN study. J Affect Disord 2004; 82: 277-83.
  6. COID J, YANG M, TYRER P, ROBERTS A, ULLRICH S. Prevalence and correlates of personality disorder in Great Britain. Br J Psychiatry 2006; 188: 423-31.
  7. MORAN P, JENKINS R, TYLEE A, BLIZARD R, MANN A. The prevalence of personality disorder among UK primary care attendees. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2000; 102: 52-7.
  8. LENZENWEGER MF, LANE MC, LORANGER AW, KESSLER RC. DSM-IV personality disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Biol Psychiatry 2007; 62:553-64.
  9. ALNAES R, TORGERSEN S. DSM-IV symptom disorders ( Axis I ) and personality disorders ( Axis II ) in an outpatient population. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1988; 78: 348-55.
  10. TORGERSEN S, KRINGLEN E, CRAMER V. The prevalence of personality disorders in a community sample. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2001; 58: 590-6.
  11. CONDELLO C, PADOANI W, UGUZZONI U, CAON F, DE LEO D. Personality disorders and self-perceived quality of life in an elderly psychiatric outpatient population. Psychopathology 2003; 36: 78-83.
  12. HAW C, HAWTON K, HOUSTON K, TOWNSEND E. Psychiatric and personality disorders in deliberate self-harm patients. Br J Psychiatry 2001; 178: 48-54.
  13. SAMUELS J, EATON WW, BIENVENU O J 3rd, BROWN CH, COSTA PT Jr, NESTADT G. Prevalence and correlates of personality disorders in a community sample. J Personal Disord 2001; 15: 390-402.
  14. CASILLAS A, CLARK LA. Dependency, impulsivity, and self-harm: traits hypothesized to underlie the association between cluster B personality and substance abuse disorders. J Personal Disord 2002; 16: 424-36.
  15. GUZDER J, PARIS P, ZELKOWITZ, FELDMAN R. Psychological risk factors for borderline pathology in children. J Am Acad Child Adol Psychiatry 1999; 38: 206-12.
  16. UZUN O, DORUK A, PERDECI Z, TURKBAY T. Substance use disorders in men with antisocial personality disorder : a study in Turkish sample. Subst Use Misuse 2006; 41: 1171-8.
  17. REICH J. The relationship between early life events and DSM-III personality disorders. J Clin Psychiatry 1986; 8: 164-73.
  18. POMPILI M, RUBERTO A, GIRARDI P, TATARELLI R. Suicidality in DSM-IV cluster B personality disorders: An overview. Ann Ist Super Sanità 2004; 40: 475-83.
  19. CHIOQUETAA P, STILES TC. Assessing suicide risk in cluster C personality disorders. Crisis 2004; 25: 128-33.
  20. MORAN P, COFFEY C, MANN A, CARLIN JB, PATTON GC. Personality and substance use disorders in young adults. Br J Psychiatry 2006; 188: 374-9.
  21. GRILO DF, BECKER ML, WALKER KN, LEVY WS, MCGLASHAN TH. Psychiatric comorbidity in adolescent inpatients with substance use disorders, J Am Acad Child Adol Psychiatry 1995; 34: 1085-91.
  22. SKODOL AE, OLDHAM JM, GALLAHER PE. Axis II comorbidity of substance use disorders among patients referred for treatment of personality disorders. Am J Psychiatry 1999; 156: 733-8.
  23. COHEN P, CHEN H, CRAWFORD TN, BROOK JS, GORDON K. Personality disorders in early adolescence and the development of later substance use disorders in the general population. Drug Alcohol Depend 2007; 88 (Suppl]): 71s-84s.
  24. MORAN P, MANN A. The prevalence and 1 year outcome of cluster B personality disorders in primary care. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry 2002; 13: 527-7.
  25. RISO LP, KLEIN DN, FERRO T et al. Understanding the comorbidity between only-onset dysthymia and cluster B personality disorders: a family study. Am J Psychiatry 1996; 153: 900-6.
  26. ZIMMERMAN M, MATTIE JI. Axis I diagnosis comorbidity and borderline personality disorder. Compr Psychiatry 1999; 40: 245-72.